Syllables Simplified

A syllable can be defined simply as a unit that is larger than a phoneme but smaller than a word. It is an uninterrupted unit of sound which is formed by the opening and closing of the mouth.

One of the easiest ways to learn to count syllables is to hum the word. For example: stable would be hm-hm, whereas mechanic is hm-hm-hm.

A syllable consists of a syllable onset and a rhyme. The rhyme is made up of a nucleus (obligatory) and a coda (optional). A syllable consists of an obligatory vowel potentially surrounded by consonants. We can therefore define a vowel as a speech sound which functions as a syllable nucleus while a consonant is a speech sound which typically occurs at the margins of a syllable. It is important to note that what is referred to here are sounds and not letters of spelling. English syllables can consist of up to three consonants in initial position (as in strand) and as many as four in final position (as in glimpsed). A syllable which ends in one or more consonants is called a closed syllable while a syllable which ends in a vowel is an open syllable. A group of consonants at the margin of a syllable is called a consonant cluster.

Some consonants are also able to act as the nuclear elements of syllables. In English, /n m l/ (and occasionally /f/) can function in this way, as in bitten /'bɪtn/, rhythm /'riðm/, subtle /'sʌtl/. Here the nucleus is not formed by a vowel, but by one of the consonants /m n f l/, which are in this case longer and more prominent than normal when pronounced. Such consonants are termed syllabic consonants. Here are a few more things to note about syllables:

Every syllable has just one vowel sound you can hear.

This does not mean that every syllable has only one single-letter vowel phonogram. Many of the vowels are multi-letter phonograms called diphthongs,, which represent one vowel sound. For example, taint has one vowel sound /eɪ/ written with the two letters 'a' and 'i'.

Every syllable must have a written vowel. 

In most words,/l/ and /r/ are typical consonants. However, the sounds /l/ and /r/ are similar to vowels in that they can be sustained because there is less obstruction than with the other consonants. This means that /l/ and /r/ can sometimes form a new syllable without a vowel sound. This occurs at the end of words. Consider words such as mar-ble, waf-fle, a-cre, etc. A silent final 'e' is added since every syllable must have a written vowel.

When learners know how many syllables are in a word and where the syllable breaks occur, it greatly aids their spelling.